Feeling the call of duty to support an issue I fee very strongly about, I called my Congressman, Jeff Miller (R-FL) today to express my support for H.R. 2060 “The Internet Radio Equality Act.” I asked him to consider going on the record as a cosponsor of this bill which is currently making its way through the House of Representatives. Calling your elected official is a very cool and empowering experience!
The good news is that his staffer told me that many many of his constituents are calling in great numbers to express their support for HR 2060 in an effort to save Internet Radio!
However, despite that fact I unfortunately still got the “Congressional Crawfish.” This is the term I use for that nebulous statement of non-committal one often gets from politicos. His staffer told me that Congressman Miller wanted to wait and see a final draft of the bill before he decided to support it or not, which of course I find silly since anyone can pull up a copy of the bill on Thomas and make a decision whether to support it or not.
What is The Internet Radio Equality Act you may ask, Dear Reader?
To put it simply, the future of Internet radio is in IMMEDIATE DANGER. Royalty rates for webcasters have been drastically increased by a recent ruling and are due to go into effect on July 15 (retroactive to Jan 1, 2006!). If the increased rates remain unchanged, the majority of webcasters will go bankrupt and silent on this date. Internet radio needs your help! H.R. 2060, The Internet Radio Equality Act was introduced by Representatives Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Donald Manzullo (R-IL ) to save the Internet radio industry.
Internet radio webcasters understand that they have to pay royalties to artists- there is no dispute there and the artists deserve to be paid for their work. But why charge them any more than other traditional radio stations or satellite-based radio for the same music?
The answer is very basic… because they have a powerful lobby. “He with the most money can buy the loudest voices to influence our United States legislature.”
Here is the other reason why Congress may be less than enthusiastic about saving Internet Radio- traditional radio stations lease space in the radio frequency spectrum from the U.S. Government through the Federal Communications Commission. There is big money involved here.
Land-based radio is afraid of Internet webcasting… and it should be. Internet Radio listeners have been exposed to all types of music from all corners of this planet from as far back as man has been recording music. I could have NEVER imagined the personal musical discoveries I would have made since listening to webcasters such as Live365, Shoutcast, SomaFM and Sky1. After listening to such far flung and interesting music why would I (or anyone else) want to go back to the same institutionalized, repetitive, cultureless and commercialized music the radio stations are playing?
The artists need Internet radio, too. Putting webcasters out of business will only hurt artists who increasingly depend on Internet radio to get their music out to fans and build new audiences. When the webcasters go off the air, so do artists.
I get more than a bit perturbed considering the thought that these higher royalties, which are going to be applied retroactively all the way back from January of 2006, are undoubtedly going to put webcasters out of business. It’s sad that a small but powerful group can destroy an industry that fully supports the world culture of music.
Imagine your electric company raising its rates on the electricity you use at home today and then your electric company making you go back and pay the difference between the old rate and the new rate going back 18 months. That wouldn’t be fair would it? Do you think that might bankrupt some people or create a severe hardship for families, one from which they might not recover?
Next, imagine that you call your Congressman or woman and they tell you that they are on the fence on this one. How would you feel about your representative in Congress then?
Congressman Jeff Miller, please support Internet Radio; please support industry and emerging technologies which responsibly promote and distribute world culture and the arts. Please step up and sponsor H.R. 2060, The Internet Radio Equality Act, as several of your fellow U.S. Representatives from Florida (both Republican and Democrat) have already done.
Your constituents, the people of Florida’s First District are not on the fence on this one. Why are you?
I will be waiting for your reply.
Dear Reader, if you currently listen to Internet radio, have ever enjoyed streaming music or would like to discover its magic and diversity in the future, please support net radio. H.R. 2060 is the only thing keeping internet radio stations on the air and playing music that we can all truly experience. Visit http://www.savenetradio.org/index.html, learn more and then take massive action; CALL OR WRITE your Congressman or woman. After all, you can’t aim a duck to death.
Secret Service guys and other law enforcement personnel charged with protecting our politicians: you can stand down. There is no threat to Congressman Miller here; the last statement came to me in a fortune cookie a few weeks ago. It simply means you have to take action to obtain a desired result. Perhaps it is not the most judicious phrase to use in these times- but it works in this context.
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